Nuna With a Side of Hubba Chips and the Force
by Balin Lord of Moria
Summary: Sanya of the Jedi AgriCorps enters a diner and gets some comfort food as well as a lesson in how there are so many ways to serve the Force. Cover art by Taipu556.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Star Wars: The Clone Wars_; this is just written for fun.

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**Nuna With a Side of Hubba Chips and the Force**

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Sanya was very hungry, after having worked all day on the Outer Rim world of Mirial, and was now looking forward to having some food to eat and water to drink for dinner. Unfortunately, she had none with her at the time, but she was working within the settlement of Vilik Duli, and there were some good businesses there, including a few restaurants that might have been good.

Vilik Duli was a small town with a population of about 20,000, and it was somewhat less frigid than most other parts of Mirial were, but it was also clean and relatively peaceful for a locale bordering in Separatist space. Sanya had been sent here to teach the Mirialans how to grow their own farms indoors and underground to survive the harsh climate of that part of the planet, and as ever, she loved what she did.

Shivering within her coat as she sped through the streets in a landspeeder (she couldn't afford an enclosed one), she observed the place around her, the businesses, the churches, and the locals. Because the Mirialans always followed the Force religiously, there were buildings kind of like churches and temples scattered throughout Vilik Duli; she could see one called the "St. Luminara's Temple" at the corner of one block, a building with an illuminating lamp on the pinnacle to light up the night (and the day). In front of it stood a Mirialan woman who was handing out tracts and pamphlets to passers-by, most of whom accepted them.

Sanya also saw a business where children and adults alike came for fun and games, called "Arcade Heaven," and various families and individuals walking in and out of it, while others went up and down the streets waving to each other or greeting each other politely. She knew that in another part of town, there was a water tower that provided all the power and hydration the city needed. Water and wind were the primary sources of the town's electrical power, and indeed for much of the rest of the planet, too, especially wind.

At last, she came to a street that had an eatery on it, independent from the other buildings. She stopped the speeder and looked at it.

It was a diner, a very classy looking one, more so than even Dex's Diner on Coruscant in her opinion, and it was called "Force Fuel." The name was lit up with red letters, and it had all the curves, red-and-blue neon, and red-blue-silver-and-white paint one might expect of a diner, although it also had the emblem of the Jedi Order above the sign lit up in flashing red and green. Sanya started to wonder, to her dismay, if this diner was owned by some money-grubbing worm who was trying to commercialize the Jedi and the Force at the Order's expense. Nonetheless, she was hungry, and she didn't want to waste valuable time searching for a different place, so she locked her speeder and went inside.

The interior décor was that of a greasy spoon diner, but it was surprisingly clean and well decorated. Booths and counter seats, all colored red and white, lined the walls and the counter, and there were also some tables and chairs in the middle of the diner. The place was occupied primarily by Mirialans, evidently, but there were also some humans, Twi'leks, Kiffar, Togrutas, Mon Calamari and Quarren, and even a few Ewoks and Gossams. A WA-7 droid was serving as a waitress for the customers at the booths and tables, as was a male Mirialan waiter, a blue-and-red R4-series agromech droid was doing some unidentifiable work of its own, and a sweeping droid rested in a corner, no doubt ready to clean up any messes the customers might make. A low-tech jukebox was playing some classic Bith music (Sanya noted that Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes had originally played it). It mostly lacked smoke, and there were no insects or other vermin wandering about. Sanya decided to order at the counter, and took a seat there.

To her surprise, the woman who served her was not a native Mirialan, but rather a Cerean. She certainly didn't look like she belonged in a diner, Sanya thought. She had a long topknot of hair that was black as jet, nails as dark as those of the average Mirialan woman, and she was dressed in an unrevealing, black tank top and what must have been the kind of dark gray trousers and black boots spacers normally wore. She handed Sanya a menu as she sat down at the counter.

"Here you are, friend," she said in a cultured Cerean accent. "If you're interested in our daily specials, just look at the Aurebesh menu up on the wall behind me."

"Thank you, ma'am," said Sanya. The Cerean walked away to serve a drink to another patron.

On the menu she held in her hands, Sanya saw the usual assortment of sliders, sandwiches, salads, and Nuna meals with hubba chips (a Nuna was a delicious cross between a turkey and a chicken in her galaxy, and hubba chips were a kind of crispy, salted, highly tasty protato [potato] served in many galactic restaurants). It didn't look altogether healthy, but she had always had a tooth for Nuna meat. The drinks included blue milkshakes, coffee, hot and iced tea, a variety of fruit juices, and the usual alcoholic drinks, like Jawa juice. Desserts included Wookiee-cookies, fudge sundaes, Sic-six layer cake, and ice cream, both in bowls and Cerean cones.

On the special menu on the wall, there were dishes like Wookiee Jerky, Dewback Gumbo, Black and Bleu Nerf Burgers, Glee Anselm Shrimp Cocktails, Dianoga stew (why would anyone want to eat a garbage squid?), Bantha Steak, Gamorrean ham, and Ortolan Delight.

Sanya was familiar with all of those specials. Wookiee Jerky and Gamorrean ham weren't actually the meat of Wookiee or Gamorrean flesh; Wookiee Jerky actually came from the hide of Kashyyyk's can-cells, an animal that Wookiees tamed for a variety of purposes, including food. The Wookiees boasted that it was one of the tastiest on-the-go snacks in the Mid and Outer Rim Territories. And Gamorrean ham actually came from domesticated hogs that female Gamorreans raised and killed to feed themselves and their violence-loving males. Countless citizens around the galaxy said the ham made excellent ham and cheese sandwiches.

Dewback Gumbo was, of course, gumbo mixed with the meat of dewback lizards, and it was relatively popular. Glee Anselm Shrimp Cocktails were so named because the shrimp came from the temperamental ocean waters of Glee Anselm, the home world of the Nautolans. Nerfs and banthas were made of beef, hence the terms "Black and Bleu Nerf Burgers" and "Bantha Steak." Dianoga stew was a dish that blew hot and cold with diner customers, because many people couldn't stand eating something that fed off of garbage, and Sanya couldn't blame them, but some others insisted that for all of its bad reputation, the dianoga was delicious, particularly when made into stew. And as for Ortolan Delight, it was an all-you-can-eat kind of dish, filled with all kinds of delicacies that the Ortolan species enjoyed eating.

For a diner, this place certainly had an interesting diversity of special meals. Still, Sanya was in the mood for something simple, and she knew what it was by now.

The Cerean woman returned and asked, "What'll it be, my friend?"

"Let's make it the Fried Nuna wings with hubba chips," said Sanya, "I've always enjoyed eating Nuna. And I'll have a large Almakian apple juice with it, and some Wookiee-cookies for dessert."

"Coming right up," said the Cerean, and sent the order to the cooks in the kitchen at once. To Sanya's surprise, instead of looking to serve more customers, she walked back to Sanya and started a conversation with her.

"You know," she said with a smile, "Nuna with hubba chips is my pride and joy here at Force Fuel, even though I serve plenty of other good dishes here, too."

"Well, that's nice to hear," said Sanya, "Nuna is one of my personal favorite meats, but then again it's always popular with Devaronians like myself."

"Yeah, I know enough about galactic species to tell that that's the truth," said the woman. "I'm Sora, by the way." She wiped her hand on a towel and offered it for shaking.

"I'm Sanya," said Sanya, "Please don't broadcast this to the whole diner, but I'm a member of the Jedi AgriCorps on Coruscant, and it's a much better job than the ordinary Jedi Padawans and Initiates give it credit for."

"Yeah," said Sora. "You know, I wanted to do something similar to that myself once."

"If you don't mind my asking," said Sanya, "why is this diner called 'Force Fuel?' I know that the Mirialans believe in the Force as their religion. If you'll forgive me for saying so, I hope you're not trying to commercialize anyone's Force-based beliefs here."

A Kiffar woman suddenly started playing some very loud gunk music on the jukebox. Sanya didn't like it one bit. Evidently, Sora didn't like it either, because she shouted, "You! Turn that down or turn that off!"

"Hey, I thought we all could play pretty much what we darn well pleased in here," said the Kiffar, stepping up to the counter and looking Sora in the eye.

Sora smiled slightly and looked back into her eyes. "You _will_ turn down that racket," she said, slightly forcefully.

The woman blinked. "Fine. I will turn this racket down." She returned to the jukebox and lowered the volume, and then she returned to her table.

Sanya blinked next. "Was that… what I think it was?"

"A mind trick?" said Sora. "Sort of. A very subtle one. I don't like to get inside other people's heads, especially if they're Mirialans, but occasionally I need to do something like that to keep some order in here."

"You mean to tell me that you're… a Force-user?" said an astonished Sanya. "A Force-user way out here, on Mirial, working _in a diner?_ I'd think your talents would serve the Jedi better than it would a place like this."

"The Jedi themselves once thought so, too," said Sora. "My goodness, they were so determined to turn me into yet another member of their monastic order after they took me from my parents. They tried to drill all the rules and doctrines of the good Jedi into me and make me an unquestioning servant of the peace."

"You mean, you were once an Initiate?" asked Sanya. "What happened? How come you're here instead of in the Jedi Service Corps or as someone's Padawan?"

Sora looked thoughtful. "Well, to begin with, I did a good job of learning the basic Force powers, like meditation, which is essential for all Cereans, levitation, affect mind, and Form I: Shii-Cho, among the rest, and I learned everything there was to know about the Living and Unifying Force and the Three Pillars of the Order. I really knew my stuff. However, I had something of an independent streak, which meant that I always felt that there were other ways to serve the Force besides being a warrior monk and peacekeeper of the Republic."

"So far, that sounds reasonable," agreed Sanya, "I've always thought that the Service Corps is just as much a service to the Living Force as leading an army of clones, if not more so. I told that to a Padawan and friend of mine named Tyzen once, when he referred to me as a 'washout.'"

Sora smiled again. "Well, I can assure you that your friend was wrong. An AgriCorps member is just as vital to the will of the Force as a full-fledged Jedi is. The problem is, the Jedi were accepting of how the Service Corps served the Force, but they were not so accepting of how people who left the Order could do the same."

"Does that mean you left the Order, Sora?" Sanya was astonished, and more than a little awed, too.

"Yes, I did," admitted Sora. "I was bold enough to tell the High Council that a Force-sensitive could do other forms of work in a more domestic lifestyle, and that I wanted to do something among the common people. I had always loved cooking food in the Jedi Temple's kitchen, and I thought maybe I could get a job at Dex's Diner, or Biscuit Baron, or maybe even the Zothique, although it is a pretty fancy place for a humble Force-user. I had always wanted to either work in a restaurant or own my own restaurant, so that I could serve food and drink to tired and weary people who need a bite in order to keep up their strength, as well as to people who are just going out to eat for fun, or on a special occasion.

"Unfortunately, the Jedi Order did not allow its members those type of jobs. The most I could do with Dex's Diner or any other restaurant was to visit it sometimes. And I told them that cooking and serving food to the public was my passion in life, but they found that _offensive_, believe it or not, because Jedi are not supposed to feel any passion. I got really upset, and I told them that I could not understand why a member of the Jedi Order was unable to follow her own heart, and do what the Force tells her is the path for her to take in life. The Council gave the same lecture they gave everyone else, that I had to abide by the rules, I tried to convince them that their rules were man-made, not Force-made, but they claimed that the Force told them that this was the only way for a Jedi or a Service Corps member.

"Finally, after I turned fifteen, I couldn't take it anymore, and said that I could not pass my trials if they weren't going to give me a chance to do what I felt was the right thing to do, so I had to leave the Order. I recall that only one Jedi gave me any support in my decision, and that was Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He knew that Jedi are called to serve a greater good than ourselves, but he also said that one must always listen to the voice of the Living Force and be ever mindful of it, or they could not use the Force in service of others as effectively. He understood as well as I did that the path of a Jedi was not my path, and he put in a good word for me before the Council, so the Order finally gave me permission to leave, though with no small amount of reluctance.

"After that, I wandered the galaxy as a spacer for a while, going where the Force told me to go, until I came here to Mirial, and I eventually found the settlement of Vilik Duli. I found this diner, which was once called 'Hylo's Diner,' owned by a middle-aged Mirialan woman named after the Mirialan smuggler and hero of the Old Republic, Hylo Visz. She told me she was thinking of making an early retirement from her career as owner and manager of the diner, and that I looked like a good candidate for a replacement, so I worked a few well-paying odd jobs for a while to earn enough money to buy the rights to the place, and when Hylo left, I took over and I have been the owner and manager ever since."

"You own this diner?" asked Sanya. "You don't just work here?"

Sora laughed. "Of course I own Force Fuel. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out for yourself! Usually, when you enter a diner, the manager spends most of her/his time either in the kitchen or behind the counter."

"So, then," Sanya assumed, "I take it that you gave this diner its new name because of your connection to the Force, or because of your past of being at the Temple."

"Sort of," Sora said. "Actually, it has the name 'Force Fuel' because this is my way of serving the Force, by providing vitamins and protein to the good citizens of Mirial as well as spacers who may travel through the area. The Force guided me here to do this kind of work, and I am doing it in service to the Force. And I do not practice favoritism. All species are welcome here, as long as they do not cause trouble, and I'm even open to both Republicans and Confederates. My employees here are two Mirialan cooks, Foro Tauro and Jan Able, the Mirialan waiter, Lorso Watt, my WA-7 waitress, 'Ashla' (I named her after the proper name of the light side of the Force), an agromech droid called N9-V77 who serves as an extra helping hand, and a sweeping droid called A-PB. I treat them all as my equals here, even Ennine and Peebee, because where the Force is served, there is no superiority or inferiority."

"That sounds reasonable to me," said Sanya, "If I can get something out of dusting crops, even if it _is_ a little boring sometimes, surely you can get something out of a career like this. Congratulations on your success, Sora."

"Thank you, Sanya," replied Sora. "I'm glad to see that there's another Jedi, or at least another person serving the Jedi Order, who understands where I'm coming from."

Just then the cook rang a bell and shouted, "Order up!"

Sora picked up the plate the cook had just put on the counter and offered it to Sanya.

"I hope you enjoy your meal," she said kindly. "Excuse me, I have to go serve someone else." With that, she walked to the far end of the counter.

Sanya looked at her food. The aroma of it was enough to make her desire to eat it. The Fried Nuna wings were crispy and greasy, and the hubba chips, a kind of protato fries (potato), were mostly the same. The Almakian apple juice was clear and crisp, as well. And the Wookiee-cookies looked and smelled delicious enough to make a fine dessert. She ate and drank to her heart's desire until she was finished, and was certain that her hunger had been satisfied.

Eventually, Sora returned to her seat. "How many credits does that cost?" she asked.

"This diner is about as inexpensive as Dex's Diner," said Sora, "Seven credits for the meal and none for the friendly chat." She grinned.

"Wow," said Sanya. "You really don't care about the money, do you?"

"Of course not," replied Sora. "Like I said, I am a humble Force-user. Making a profit is not my reason for running this diner. In fact, sometimes, I don't even charge half of my customers if they're very hungry and they can't afford a meal. But don't say that too loudly, or I may lose my means of earning a simple living."

"You got it!" said Sanya, paying her the money, plus two more credits as a tip. "I know the manager doesn't really need tips, but I got a lot out of this talk, and I wanted to thank you, Sora."

"Well, you're welcome, Sanya," said Sora, touched. "There are a couple of things I'd like to say to you, though, before you go. First, don't spread the word that I'm living on Mirial working a diner called Force Fuel, especially not on Coruscant, because I don't want to attract the attention of the Republic, the Jedi, or their Grand Army as long as I can help it."

"I won't," Sanya promised.

"And second," continued Sora, "You mentioned to me that a Padawan named Tyzen ridiculed your job as a Jedi AgriCorps worker. Don't ever let him, or any other Jedi, for that matter, tell you that you're worthless as a peacekeeper or a 'washout' just because of that. I learned that from Qui-Gon, and now I'm passing on what I have learned. If my job has brought meaning to my life, then the AgriCorps will always bring meaning to yours, too."

Sanya smiled. "Thanks a lot, Sora," she said. "I'll definitely keep that in mind. I doubt if I'll leave the Order and open a diner like you, but I _am_ tired of being looked down on because of my status."

"Very good," replied Sora.

"Anyway," said Sanya, "I've got to go back to my private quarters in the town motel. Thanks again; hope we see each other again sometime."

"May the Force be with you, Sanya," Sora said in goodbye.

"And also with you," replied Sanya, and she left.

A Twi'lek walked up to the counter, and before Sanya stepped outside, she heard him say, "You know, you two are much more like ideal light side Force-users than most Jedi I know."

"Take it easy, Dael," said Sora, "I'm just a simple woman trying to make her way in the universe." Sanya laughed as she walked out the door.

Needless to say, Sanya wasn't expecting a life lesson from a young Force-user who was running an attractive diner instead of fighting battles or keeping the peace, but it proved that lessons can come even from the most unlikely places when you can feel the Force.

She looked back once. The sign 'Force Fuel' shone red, and the Jedi emblem flashed red and green. Through a surprisingly clear window, she could see Sora continuing to serve customers and wiping counters, living her life by the way her heart and the Force told her to live it, rather than by inflexible old rules.

"Thank you, Sora," she whispered, and she returned to her speeder and the motel.

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**A/N:** The diner "Force Fuel" was modeled similarly to "Dex's Diner" from _Attack of the Clones_, as well as "Plop Dribble's" and "Power Sliders" from _The Clone Wars_, but it's my own original creation. The town of Vilik Duli resembles Pons Ora on Abafar from **"Missing in Action."** Hope you enjoyed it. **Please R&R!**


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